1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a retraction mechanism, and more particularly to a retraction mechanism adapted to a drawer to assist the drawer in retracting into a furniture body.
2. Description of Prior Art
Retractable drawers have been widely used by the consumers, and there are a number of patents related to this issue, such as U.S. Pat. No. 5,207,781 to Rock, titled “Closing device for moving a drawer to a fully inserted position within a furniture body”; U.S. Pat. No. 5,364,179 to Brustle et al, titled “Closing device for Drawers”; U.S. Pat. No. 5,474,375 to Hollenstein et al, titled “Closing device for moving a drawer to a fully inserted position within a furniture body”; U.S. Pat. No. 5,240,318 to Schroder et al, titled “Device for holding a drawer in an article of furniture”; U.S. Pat. No. 5,302,016 to Lautenschlager et al, titled “Automatic pull-in mechanism for drawer guides”; U.S. Pat. No. 5,580,138 to Grabher, titled “Retraction-assisting device for use with a drawer; and U.S. Pat. No. 7,249,813 to Gasser, titled “Retraction device for drawers”.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,207,781 discloses a pin member linking a tiltable member along a groove. One end of the tiltable member is pulled by an elastic member, and the terminal of the groove is formed with a curved end. When the tiltable member driven by the pin member is moved to the curved end of the groove, the tiltable member will be turned at a predetermined angle to engage with the curved end temporarily, which allows the drawer to be moved outward freely from a cabinet. To retract the drawer, simply push the drawer inward, which brings the pin member to reconnect with the tiltable member. With the elasticity of the elastic member, the drawer is fully retracted into the cabinet.
All of the other patents described above share the same concept of using a groove or the like for the tiltable member to move therealong. Without the groove, the tilting movement will be unstable. In order to stabilize the movement, it is necessary to increase the size of the groove. Furthermore, the prior art uses the cured groove to lock the tiltable member, which may be disengaged with a minor movement. The tiltable member may be pulled back by the elastic member.